No. 19 Mississippi State Softball Matches Win Record Under Ricketts, Wins Series Against No. 20 Ole Miss
The Mississippi State Bulldogs clinched a series win over in-state rival Ole Miss for the third consecutive season with a 3-0 win over the No. 20 Rebels at Nusz Park on Friday.
Ole Miss salvaged a win on Saturday, beating MSU 6-4.
The Bulldogs finished conference play with a 13-11 record, their first time finishing above .500 since 2001. Overall, they have matched their highest win total since the 2008 season.
A record-breaking day for @Coach_Ricketts!
— Mississippi State Softball (@HailStateSB) May 2, 2025
She now stands alone in program history with 45 ranked wins at MSU and has matched her highest single-season win total in Starkville! #HailState🐶 pic.twitter.com/T4m7x5vJEK
An even more impressive stat under Ricketts' leadership is how her squad has done against all in-state opponents. Mississippi State is now 30-6 against teams from the state of Mississippi under and has outscored in-state foes, 256-78.
Pitchers Delainey Everett and Raelin Chaffin combined to pitch a seven-inning shutout on Friday and guaranteed a finish above .500 in league play for the first time since 2001.
"I'm really proud of Delainey and for the outing that she gave us," head coach Ricketts said. "This is a tough conference, especially when you are one of the starters every weekend. You have no secrets and especially coming into Year 2, I think people know her a little bit.
"Delainey is one of the most competitive players we have. She is fiery, and she wasn't happy with her last couple of outings. We were reassuring her that everyone had full confidence in her, her ability and the way she competes, and I thought she did a great job at doing exactly that."
Everett and Chaffin were on the losing end Saturday. Chaffin was handed the loss after giving up four earned runs on five hits and four walks in three innings. Everett allowed two runs on seven hits and one walk.
"It's tough in this league, and after throwing the first two days, there's no surprises really," Ricketts said. "It's just finding ways to keep them off balance, and usually on Sundays, it's just who's going to be able to outscore the other. I thought they did a good job. They're aggressive. They're attacking. They're taking walks that were given to them. They're a good team.
"There's a reason that they've been ranked all season long, and I think it's just another good example of an SEC battle and why this conference is the deepest in the country."
Up next for the Bulldogs is the SEC Tournament which begins Tuesday. Mississippi State will be the No. 8 seed and play No. 9 LSU in the second round at 10 a.m. CT on Wednesday.
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-1d7db99dccc9abef7b9378f016b22b68.webp "Maren Angus-Coombs")
Maren Angus-Coombs was born in Los Angeles and raised in Nashville, Tenn. She is a graduate of Middle Tennessee State University and has been a sports writer since 2008. She has been covering college softball since 2016 for various outlets including Softball America, ESPNW and Hurrdat Sports. She is currently the managing editor of Softball On SI and also serves as an analyst for Nebraska softball games on Nebraska Public Media and B1G+.